Preening
by Kiaooftheblade
Summary: Pinkie Pie wants to take her relationship with Rainbow Dash to a new level. Dash isn't sure shes ready. PinkieDash


I don't own My Little Pony in any way, shape, or form.

* * *

Pinkie hummed to herself as she walked through town, smiling and waving to the ponies she passed. After a few minutes, she stopped, looked straight up and called out, "Hey Rainbow!"

Up above her, manipulating a large white cloud, the pegasus in question looked down at her and smiled.

"Hey Pinkie!" she called back, "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to come by and say hello."

Rainbow Dash flew down to her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"That's sweet of you. It's always good to see you."

"So what are you doing with that cloud up there?"

"Well, we need to- Hold on a second," Dash said looking up intently.

She flew up into the sky with incredible speed and grabbed a small cloud that was floating away and pushed it into the bigger cloud, then kicked it with all of her strength, sending the cloud flying off. She watched it for second then flew down to Pinkie.

"Sorry about that. Fillydelphia is having a cloud shortage right now and since we have clear skies scheduled for the next few days, we're collecting all of the clouds we don't need and sending them off that way."

"Oooh, I love clear skies," Pinkie said with a smile, "I love seeing all that blue."

The blue pegasus blushed and looked away, smiling a little awkwardly.

"It is pretty nice," she said, "I should get back to work though. Still a lot of clouds to round up. We're still on for dinner later right?"

"Right. Oh, one more thing!" Pinkie called as Dash began to fly off.

"Hmm? What's up?"

"Well, I was talking to Lyra earlier, and she mention something about preening."

Dashes face turned bright red and her wings extended up slightly.

"Pr-preening?" she asked.

"Yeah. She said it was so cool how we had been together for so long and asked if I had preened your wings. And I was all like, 'Why would I do that?'"

"Pinkie," Dash said trying to interrupt the earth pony.

"Then she said that that's like the most intimate thing a pegasus can let another pony do," Pinkie went on, ignoring Dash, "And I was like, 'Really?' And she said 'Yeah totally.' And I was like, 'Wow, I didn't know that.'"

"Pinkie," Dash a little louder.

"And she was like 'Really? She never said anything about that?' And I was like, 'Nope. Never.' And she said I should talk to you about it."

"Pinkie!" Dash practically shouted, finally drawing the other mares attention.

"Yeah?"

Dash blushed furiously, her face so red it almost matched Big Macs coat, and looked at the ground uncomfortably while rubbing the back of her neck.

"Can we, uh, can we talk about this later?"

"Later?'

"Yeah. I've still got a lot of work to do and this is a conversation we should really be having in private, you know?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

"It's okay. We'll talk about it after dinner, okay?"

Pinkie nodded. Smiling, Dash nodded as well and turned to fly off. She stopped suddenly, turned back and quickly kissed Pinkie on the cheek then sped off.

* * *

Later that night, around seven thirty, the two mares entered Pinkies room above Sugarcube Corner.

"That was the best chocolate cake I've ever had," Pinkie said licking her lips, "That wasn't made by me of course."

"Oh yeah, definitely," Dash agreed, "Your cakes are way better."

"Everything else was okay to I guess."

"Okay? The food there was awesome!"

Pinkie shrugged dismissively.

"Oh come on, you tasted that beet steak right? I have no idea what they put on it, but it was like heaven in your mouth!"

"Yeah, it was good I guess. The cake was better though."

Dash sighed and shook her head.

"You have the biggest sweet tooth of anypony I know. Guess that's why you're so sweet."

Without warning, Dash pulled Pinkie close and kissed her on the lips. Pinkie giggled and kissed back, wrapping her forelegs around the pegasus' neck to pull her closer to her. They broke away after a moment and Dash licked her lips.

"You still have chocolate frosting on your lips," she said.

Pinkie laughed and kissed her on the forehead.

"So, Dashie, can we talk about preening now?"

Dash blushed and nodded.

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Lets, um, lets sit down first."

The two ponies went over to Pinkies bed and climbed up onto it, sitting close together.

"Okay. Preening," Dash said after a few seconds.

"Yeah. Why's it so special for a pegasus to let somepony else do it to them?"

"Well, a pegasus' wings are real sensitive. You know that."

Pinkie blushed and nodded.

"And sometimes we have to preen them," Dash looked a little uncomfortable as she spoke, "And when we do, it's kind of a private thing. You know, like, only at home, not when anypony else is around."

Pinkie blushed even more and nodded again.

"And so, there's kind of an unwritten rule amongst pegasi that you don't preen somepony else's wings, only your own. But if a pegasus has a special somepony who they really, really, really, deeply, truly love, the way to show it is to let them preen their wings."

Pinkie's expression turned serious and she looked down for a moment.

"Don't you feel that way about me?' she asked, looking back up.

"Of course I do! I love you more then anypony in the world!"

"Why haven't you ever told me about this before then?"

"Well, cause my mom always told me that it wasn't enough for just me to feel that way. She said that I should only let somepony else preen my wings if I was absolutely certain that they felt the same way about me."

"You don't think I feel that way about you?" Pinkie shouted accusingly.

"What? No! Of course I think you love me! I just… I was…" Dash stammered and looked down.

Pinkie looked away and her expression turned sad. Her mane lost its curl and fell in to a flat sheet. Tears began to form in her eyes as she stared at the wall.

Dash opened her mouth to say something, but found herself unable to form words at that moment. Instead, she tentatively reached out to touch the pink mare, but stopped and looked down again, tears forming in her own eyes.

"I… I want to be alone…" Pinkie said after a moment.

Dash nodded and slowly got off the bed.

"I'll just go then," she said and left without waiting for Pinkie to respond.

As she shut the door and began to walk away, she heard sobbing coming from the room. She turned and reached out to open the door, but stopped and turned back around, shaking her head.

Dash left the shop quickly and took to the sky, flying home as fast as she could, a trail of tears flowing out behind her as she did.

* * *

A few days passed, and nopony in town had seen much of Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie since that night. Pinkie had come downstairs the next day and requested a few days off of work, which the Cakes were more then willing to provide. Dash had gone to the weather patrol office and put in for time off as well. Nopony saw them again after that, which got everypony in town talking.

Rumors began to spread that the two had had a huge fight and broke up and were now too depressed to come outside. The rumors got so bad, that the rest of their friends met up to discuss what they should do.

"They can't have broken up," Rarity said, "They're just so in love, there's no way that would happen."

"I agree," Twilight said, "But it still doesn't explain what's going on with them."

"We should go check up on em," Applejack suggested, "If we talk to em, we can figure out what happened, and if we do that, maybe we can help em."

"That's a good idea," Twilight said, "But what if they don't want to talk to us?"

"They haven't talked to anypony in days," Rarity said, "They'll want to talk."

"I just hope it's nothing too serious," Fluttershy said.

"Alright then. We'll go talk to them," Twilight said, "Rarity, you and Applejack go see Pinkie. Fluttershy and I will go talk to Rainbow."

The others nodded and they set off. Arriving at Sugarcube Corner, Rarity and Applejack were greeted by Mr. Cake.

"Hello girls. Have you come to see Pinkie?" he asked.

"Yes. Do you think it's okay for us to go up?' Rarity asked.

"I think so. Seeing some friends should help her get through whatever's going on."

"Our thoughts exactly," the unicorn replied.

Heading upstairs, they could hear Pinkie softly sobbing from behind her door. They exchanged a quick glance before Applejack knocked on the door.

"Pinkie? It's Applejack and Rarity. Can we come in?" she asked.

There was a loud sniffing sound from within the room followed by a strained and incredibly sad voice that sounded vaguely like Pinkies saying, "Come in."

Applejack and Rarity exchanged a worried glance and went in. Pinkie sat on her bed hugging a pillow close to her chest. Her eyes were very red and puffy and her cheeks were streaked with tears. Her mane, despite not being in its normal curly state, was messy and unkempt.

"Hi," she said quietly as they came up and sat next to her on the bed.

"Hello dear," Rarity said.

Applejack nodded in response.

"We wanted to talk to you," the unicorn said after a few seconds.

"Talk?" the pink mare repeated, sounding unsure.

"Yeah," Applejack said with a nod, "Everypony in town is real worried about you and Dash. We wanted to see if we could help."

Pinkie looked down and nodded slowly.

"Okay."

"So, what happened?"

"It was… It was my fault!" Pinkie sobbed burying her face in the pillow.

"Don't say that!" Rarity said, "You should never blame yourself for things like this!"

"But it was my fault! I brought it up! It was me!"

"Brought what up? What happened?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie continued to cry far a bit until she was able to compose herself.

"I was talking to Lyra," she said, her voice unstable, "She asked me if I'd preened Dash's wings but I didn't know what she was talking about and then I asked Dash about it…"

"Preening?" Rarity interrupted.

Pinkie nodded. "Pegasi have sensitive wings and preening them is supposed to be personal and private. But if they let somepony else do it, it means they really, really, really, really love them."

"So, you mentioned it to Dash and she freaked out?" Applejack guessed.

Pinkie nodded.

"I see. I'm surprised she never let you do that. Everypony can see that you two are absolutely crazy for one another," Rarity said.

"She said she wanted to make sure the pony she did it with loved her as much as she loved them."

"Oh no…" Applejack muttered, putting her face in her hoof, "Dash, how could you…"

"And now… Now I don't know what to do…"

"What do you want to do?" Rarity asked.

Pinkie pressed her face back into the pillow and shook her head.

The other two mares looked at each other, both looking very concerned. Applejack raised an eyebrow and Rarity shook her head. The earth pony gestured towards the window with her head. The white mare shook her head again. Applejack gave her a frustrated look and she shrugged in response.

"I want to go back in time and stop myself from saying anything about this to Dash," Pinkie suddenly said.

"I don't think that's an option here," Rarity said.

"Then I don't know…"

Applejack and Rarity both hugged her. Pinkie did her best to hug them both back.

"Don't you worry Pinkie. You'll come up with something. Everything will be fine," Rarity whispered.

"We're here for you no matter what happens," Applejack said, "Always remember that."

"Thank you," Pinkie said, "I think I need some time to myself now."

"Of course dear," Rarity said pulling away.

"Remember, come find us if you need anything else," Applejack said.

Pinkie nodded as they left the room.

"How'd it go?" Mr. Cake asked as they came down the stairs.

"Well, we know what happened at least," Rarity said glancing back up the stairs.

"Don't know how much we was able to help though," Applejack said.

"Well, I'm sure she was happy to see you either way."

They both nodded and waved their goodbyes as they left the store. Stepping outside, they found a large group of ponies gathered outside looking at them expectantly.

"What do ya'll want?" Applejack asked.

"Did you see Pinkie Pie?" somepony in the crowd called out.

"What do you care?"

"Did she really break up with Rainbow Dash?" somepony else called out.

"That's none of yer business!" Applejack shouted angrily and stomped her hoof, "Now clear out, the lot of you, before I get angry!"

Everypony looked at each other a little fearfully then began to disperse.

"Vultures…" Rarity muttered, "They make me sick."

"You and me both Rarity," Applejack said with a nod, "You and me both."

* * *

"Rainbow?" Twilight asked knocking on the door to Dash's cloud house, "It's Twilight and Fluttershy. Can we come in and talk to you?"

After a minute or so, Twilight knocked on the door again, saying, "Rainbow, please let us in. We want to help."

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk to anypony," Fluttershy said, "Maybe we should just go."

"No way!" Twilight said turning to her, "We have an obligation to help our friends when they need us, and Rainbow Dash really needs us right now."

Turning back to the door, the alicorn raised her hoof to knock again when the door opened and they were greeted by a very distraught looking Rainbow Dash. All of her usual confidence and bravado was gone, replaced with a far off look and despair. Her mane looked more unkempt then usual and she had large dark circles under her slightly puffy eyes.

"Oh, uh, hi Rainbow," Twilight said, "Can we come in?"

She looked at both them for a second then nodded and stepped aside. After they were both inside, she shut the door, walked into her living room and sat down on the couch. She stared down at the ground, saying nothing, then fell over, lying across the length of the couch.

Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged a concerned glance and sat down on the love seat across from her.

"So, um, how are you doing?" Twilight asked, then began silently cursing herself for asking such a stupid question.

Dash grunted in response.

"We're all really worried about you and Pinkie," she continued, "Can you tell us what happened?"

Dash mumbled something that neither of them could hear.

"Could you say that again?" Twilight asked.

Dash mumbled again, slightly louder.

"Still didn't catch that."

"Preening," she said.

Fluttershy's face grew bright red and she looked down.

"Preening?" Twilight repeated sounding confused.

Dash nodded. Twilight looked over to the other pegasus and raised an eyebrow.

"Pegasi normally only preen their own wings," Fluttershy explained, "But if they let somepony else do it, it's their way of saying that they really love them."

Twilight looked back at her own wings with a questioning look.

"I wonder if that's the same for alicorns," she said to herself, "I'll need to ask the princess about it."

"So, um, what exactly happened?" Fluttershy asked.

"Pinkie said she was talking to somepony. Lyra, I think," Dash said, her voice slightly muffled by the couch, "They mentioned preening to her, she mentioned it to me, I told her about what it means, she got all depressed and now I feel like the worst pony ever…"

"You didn't let her preen?" Fluttershy said sounding shocked.

"My mom always told me to make sure the pony I let do that loved me as much as I loved them."

"Did you tell Pinkie that?" Twilight asked.

Dash nodded.

"Oh Dash…" she sighed, "Why would you say that?

The blue mare grunted and rolled over so that she was facing the back of the couch.

"You see?" she said, "I'm the worst pony ever…"

"Do you want Pinkie to preen your wings?" Fluttershy asked.

Dash turned her head back slightly to look towards the yellow mare, then laid her head back down.

"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said a little more forcefully, "Do you want Pinkie to preen your wings?"

"I want… I want it to be the right pony."

"Is that Pinkie?"

Dash shifted slightly.

"Is Pinkie the right pony?"

"Yes…" Dash said, her voice breaking, "Yes… Oh Celestia yes, she's the right pony. She's always been the right pony."

"Then you go tell her," Twilight said, "You go tell her that she's the right pony."

"No… No, I can't…"

"Why not?"

"You weren't there. You didn't see her when I told her. I could practically hear her heart breaking. She probably doesn't even want to see me."

"That's why you have to tell her. You have to let her know that your sorry and that you want to fix things."

Dash rolled back over and sat up. Tears rolled down her face as she looked at them and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I gotta go tell her. I gotta go tell her right now."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Not so fast!" Twilight said, stopping her leaving, "You can't go right now."

"You're to emotional right now," Fluttershy said, "You need to calm down a bit first."

"Calm down," Dash repeated.

"Get some sleep. Go see her first thing tomorrow," Twilight said.

"Yeah. Okay."

Twilight smiled and nodded.

"Good. Come on Fluttershy. We should get going."

"Wait! Guys, don't go yet," Dash called out as they began to walk away, "I, uh… Can you guys stay the night? Make sure I don't do anything stupid?"

"Of course," Twilight said with a nod, "Of course we can."

* * *

Dash awoke early the next morning, which was weird considering how late it had been when she fell asleep. She had stayed up all night with Twilight and Fluttershy, working on figuring out exactly what to say to Pinkie.

She walked quietly out into the living room where the other two were still asleep. She smiled at them, then left the house, being careful not to wake them. She went over what to say in her mind as she flew to Sugarcube Corner. Landing in front of the store, she knocked loudly.

It was far too early for the shop to be open, but Dash knew that the Cakes would be up by now to get things ready for the day. And sure enough, the door was opened a few seconds later by a very surprised Mrs. Cake.

"Rainbow Dash," she said, "I wasn't expecting to see you."

"Yeah, I know," the pegasus replied, "I want to talk to Pinkie."

"She's up in her room. I can't guarantee she'll let you in though."

"Yeah, I figured."

Dash quickly made her way up the stairs and stopped in front of Pinkies door. She lifted a hoof to knock, but hesitated.

Rainbow Dash had done a lot of things in her life that many would consider brave. Battling Nightmare Moon, fighting off a Changeling invasion, flying through Ghastly Gorge, standing up to giant fire breathing dragons. Things that would scare most ponies, she had done with little fear. In fact, Dash would say that she did that stuff because she was fearless.

But now that she was here, standing in front of Pinkies door, she felt scared. She felt a fear that she had never felt before. A fear so powerful, she very nearly turned and walked away. But she didn't. She fought back the fear and knocked.

"Pinkie Pie? It's… It's me. I… I, uh… Can I come in?" she stammered, "I want to… I want… I want to talk."

She stood there for about a minute before the door opened. Pinkie stared at her, her face blank, eyes still puffy.

"Hi," Dash said awkwardly.

Pinkie moved aside letting her in.

"Lets sit over here," she said walking over to her bed.

Dash followed and they sat down next to each other, but to close together. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Dash spoke up.

"I'm really, really sorry," she said, "You were right. I didn't think you loved me as much I loved you."

Pinkies already sad expression drooped further at that.

"But then I thought about us. Really thought about us. Like, about all you do for me. All the little presents, the surprises, taking care of me when I get hurt or sick, listening to me when I'm in a bad mood or whatever. I thought about all that and I realized that I was right. You don't love me as much as I love you. You love me way more then I love you."

Pinkie brightened slightly at that.

"I mean, I'm crazy about you. I really am. Everypony knows. But you're super mega whacked out crazy about me. I just didn't realize it."

A small sad smile crept onto Pinkies lips for a second then disappeared.

"I know what I said hurt you. I know that. And, well, if you…" Dash voice broke and tears began to fall from her eyes, "If you don't ever want to see me again, I understand. I'll leave Ponyville and go back to Cloudsdale and you won't ever have to see me again."

"No!" Pinkie cried turning towards her, "No, don't leave town. I… I don't want you to leave. I don't… want you to leave."

Dash rubbed the tears from her eyes and looked over at Pinkie.

"You mean that? You don't want to break up?"

"I thought about it," Pinkie said looking down, "I wanted to at first. I almost went out to find you and tell you that."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I knew how much it would hurt you if I did, and how much it would hurt me too. And, well, because what you said just now, it's true. I love you way to much."

They sat there silently for a few minutes, staring at the wall.

"So, what now?" Dash asked, "Are… Are we okay now?"

Pinkie looked downward and shook her head.

"I don't know," she said, "I've never… I've never done anything like this before…"

"I guess we could spend some more time alone then. Make sure we're good before we try anything again."

"But I don't want to spend anymore time alone! I want to be with you!"

"Then lets be together."

Dash pulled Pinkie close to her, holding her in a tight embrace. Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around her and pressed her face against her shoulder. They held each other for what felt like an eternity, not wanting to lose the closeness they had.

But they did eventually pull back from one another. It was a brief depart as they moved together again, lips meeting a deep kiss. The kiss lasted for another eternity before they pulled apart and collapsed into the bed, still holding each other tightly. Pinkie rested her head against the pegasus' chest. Dash pulled her closer to her and began to stroke her mane

"Hey, Pinkie," Dash said after a few minutes.

"Yeah?"

"I, uh… I haven't preened my wings in the last few days and they're looking kind of… messy. Could… Could you… Could you preen them for me?"

Pinkies mane exploded out into its usually curly state as she pulled her head back to look into Dash's eyes.

"You… You're sure you want me to?"

"Yeah. I said before that I was waiting for the right pony. You're the right pony."

For the first time in several days, Pinkies eyes lit up and smile spread across her face.

"I'll do my best make them look good."

"They'll look good no matter what you do."

* * *

Thanks for reading and be sure to leave a nice review!


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